Uther’s hatred for magic started with the birth of his son Arthur; Nimueh used magic to allow Igraine (Uther’s wife) to conceive a child, but, for every life given, one must also be taken and thus Igraine had to die. A grief-stricken Uther banished magic and had every sorcerer and druid killed (the “Great Purge”). When, after being mortally wounded by an assassin, Uther himself lay dying, it was Merlin (in the guise of his alter ego Emrys or “Dragoon”) who was trying to save him, but Morgana had put an enchantment on Uther, causing Merlin’s magic to backfire and ultimately kill Uther.

In Arthurian history and mythology, the name Pendragon is not a name as you might think, but a title. There are several explanations: according to Malory, just before Uther became king, there appeared in the sky a comet shaped like a dragon.Historically it means “chief leader”. In old Welsh “dragwn” means “leader” and “pen” means “head”.

In Merlin, Uther Pendragon is portrayed by the British actor and musician Anthony Head.He has starred in numerous movies (from the 1981 Lady Chatterly’s Lover, to the 2013 Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters) and has appeared dozens of tv series, like Little Britain, Buffy, the vampire slayer, Jonathan Creek, Spooks and Doctor Who.

Thank you for this! As usual you are the fount of knowledge with respect to Arthurian Legend. Fascinating that Pendragon is a Title rather than a name - and totally understandable too. It almost seems as though it should be "Pen" "Dragon"

I have to say again and again I applaud the writers of this particular version of the Merlin story. In the end it's always about emotion isn't it? Uther used magic because he was desperate to have a child... and Nimueh helped him but did not tell him that a life would be taken. Uther loved Igraine and so... in his despair and sadness anger grew and he turned that anger against magic. Perhaps not the "right" thing to do but understandable.

I thought Anthony was superb as Uther. I mean I really didn't like what he did.. and I really like Anthony Head! He's such fun in real life. But I was totally caught up in Uther's ridiculous black & white approach to everything.. from not allowing commoners to be knights to not tolerating magic (except of course to save Morgana's life. Here's a photo of Uther in the hilarious "no hair" & farting scene from "Goblin's Gold" one of my favorite episodes... and I know a favorite with many Merlin fans!

Okay so I thought it would be fun to post a photo of Anthony as .. Rupert is it? in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which I never really watched but my daughter showed me a clip on youtube.

So here's a photo of Anthony in that.... fairly unassuming.

Anthony Head Buffy .jpg (70.88 KiB) Viewed 830 times

But then as I was looking for Anthony photos, lo & behold.... up popped these tantalizing black & white photos of our Anthony as Frank n Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" Go Anthony! I remember going to see the original show with Tim Curry..... and it looks as though Anthony did a terrific job ! Certainly looks as though he's enjoying himself!